Your article mentions M.2 to PCIe adapters, and having just worked with a few of these in the lab, some extra information for you:

1. The ADT-Link parts that you see on AliExpress are the most common ones; most other parts you see will be rebadged or resold versions of those. If you're looking to play around with one of these, http://www.adtlink.cn/en/product/R42.html is resold on Mouser as https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/DFRobot/FIT0782?qs=ljCe...

2. There's some mechanical compatibility issues with these adapters due to the screws connecting the cable to the M.2 card: M.2 connectors on the motherboard side come in various heights and not all have sufficient room for the bottom of the screw to not hit the motherboard and prevent the card from being fully inserted.

That said, the adapters work great at PCIe Gen 3 speeds. I probably wouldn't expect them to work above that in the general case.